Painting, for example, residential painting, typically involves use of a variety of tools, such as paint brushes and rollers, paint scrapers, putty knives, and razor blades. The conventional tool has both a handle and a tool head. Usually, the head is permanently attached to the body such that the head cannot be separated from the body. A typical head features a paint applicator such as a brush formed of bristles, a sponge, or a roller. Often, bristles are permanently attached to the handle using a ferrule, which is a metallic clamp that surrounds a lower portion of the bristles and an upper portion of the handle to bind the bristles to the handle.
Tools featuring different heads may be useful for different purposes. Therefore, a user normally purchases and maintains separate paintbrushes having heads of various sizes, shapes, and materials. The same can be said for paint rollers, paint scrapers and putty knives. The result can require a significant investment in tools.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0148058 attempts to overcome this disadvantage by disclosing a tool having a detachably interconnected handle and paint applicator. This system allows for detaching and replacing paint applicator heads from the handle. This system has the disadvantage of involving a relatively complicated connector for connecting the head to the handle. Further, the primary connector component is attached to the brush head placing a significant cost of the connector on the replaceable and ultimately disposable head.
Moreover, the head of the conventional paint brush or tool brush is normally aligned with the body and the handle of the brush along a common axis, such that the handle is on an axis substantially parallel to and in line with the head, or in the case of a paint roller at a 90° angle with respect to the axis of the roller. As a result of this design, an awkward hand and wrist motion may be required for performing tasks such as painting walls, which are usually perpendicular to the axis of the brush.